Face-off: Biggest cultural icon: Bieber or Zuckerberg

Zuckerberg social network

May 16, 2011|By Jake Rakoci, South Lake High School

He become a billionaire at the age of 23, was named Time's 2010 Person of the Year and deemed the most influential person of the information age by Vanity Fair last year. Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook, has not only changed the way people communicate, but has become a cultural icon known around the world.

He has influenced our society so much that the launch of the social networking site and a version of Zuckerberg's story were the subject of "The Social Network," a film that took home three Oscars at the 83rd Academy Awards.

From his Harvard dorm room to a worldwide network, Zuckerberg's idea has grown into a global force, uniting users and transforming the way we use computers. With over 500 million users who spend 700 billion minutes per month on the site, Facebook beats the closest social networking site by 300 million users. Out of these 500 million users, half of them log on daily, according to Facebook.

In December, Time named Zuckerberg "Person of the Year" for his accomplishment of connecting millions of people and changing the way information is exchanged. He joins some of the world's most iconic leaders previously awarded Person of the Year: President Barack Obama, President George W. Bush and the Apollo 8 astronauts.

As one of the youngest billionaires in the world, Zuckerberg is also invloved in philanthropic endeavors. In December he, along with Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, pledged to donate half of his wealth over the course of his life. This is something Justin Bieber, 17-year-old music icon, has not done.

Bieber could be considered a force to be reckoned with on the pop charts, but his accomplishments on the charts are no comparison to those of Zuckerberg's.

Comparable to the likes of the Hanson Brothers, Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers, all of whom were larger than life for a short period of time, Bieber is just enjoying his fifteen minutes of fame. Once listening to a teen sensation with cool hair sing "Baby" over and over again gets old, the 13- to 16-year-old girls that comprise his fan base will find a new, cooler pop star to replace him.

Mark Zuckerberg is here to stay. Every day, hundreds of new users sign up for Facebook, while Justin Beiber's hit songs fall lower and lower on the charts.